Events
by moccavin
Summary: The summer after the incident, Ponyboy has another encounter with the Socs but narrowly escapes to discover that there was another gang in the neighborhood- one that the boys make fast friends with. There are more connections and coincidences than anticipated with this not-so-usual bunch. Bunch of greaser girls, that is. Review or like for more plz!
1. Chapter 1

*Author's Note(s)

Yeah, I know I always have to write one of these but I just have to for some reason, Its like putting a cover on a book.

**Before most chapters, I will usually write a song title. It's not big deal. Just depending on the POV its in, that's how the character feels in this chapter or what's going on. For example, there's a fighting scene in chapter 1. And again, none of the songs will be from the 60's or before. I listen to music 24/7 ESPECIALLY when I'm writing, so It's hard for me not to do this.

***Disclaimer- I almost forgot to do the disclaimer. The Outsiders belong to S.E. Hinton. Believe me, if I owned the Outsiders, I wouldn't be here 3

****This is post-book. The only difference I that I didn't make Johnny and Dallas die. Yeah, I know, im a disappointment, but I couldn't do this without them. Finally, let the story begin!

Chapter 1

"Hit Me With Your Best Shot"- Pat Benatar

Pony POV

"Pony where're you going?"

It was my oldest brother Darry. Darry always had to know where I was going, how, how long and why. But I guess what declared him a suitable guardian for Soda, my other older brother, and I. He's as strict as a parent would be. Just not as adult.

"I'm going out," I replied turning the unlocked doorknob of our back door.

"Where?"

"Around the neighborhood," I said.

"Why?"

"Johnny and I are taking a walk," I told him.

"Now?"

"No, tomorrow" I said sarcastically.

Darry rolled his eyes, "Pony, its late and dark outside."

"Yeah, I know. But I had a blade and I'll be with Johnny anyway," I protested.

Right when I was real sure he was gonna say something about Johnny not being real tough, I cut him off.

"And Johnny has a blade, too," I said.

"Fine," Darry said, "Be careful and be back by eleven."

I checked my watch. 10:23. I only had about forty minutes. But I knew the way Darry is. He was awful reluctant to even let me go, but after the whole incident moths ago, he decided to be more laid-back. That is a pretty tough job if you have ever met my brother Darry.

Now you're probably asking why I need more than forty minutes to take a walk. Because the truth is, I was really going for a walk with Johnny. Johnny is my best friend and as you probably figured I care a lot about him and we hang out a lot. He lives on our block and tonight as I was riding my bike before dinner, I heard a lot of yelling and crashing and slapping coming from his house as I passed it. Must have meant he and his parents were fighting again. I wonder how nobody noticed this. He had neighbors, and people knew about the things Johnny was being put through, yet things stayed in the same desolate fashion as always. Whenever I heard noise like that coming from his house, I always wanted to see him to make sure he was alright and calm him down. Though I would never be calm if I had monsters of parents like his. We sit and talk in the alley for a few hours or go to the park and read _Gone With the Wind_, his favorite aloud, or even just sit by the pond and look at the stars and skip stones. Johnny likes the stars.

And Darry lets me go because he is aware of what Johnny was going through and figures he does need comforting. As long as I'm not with Dally this late, it's fine. Johnny's a real nice guy.

So I walked out the door slipping on my leather jacket.

"Oh and don't go too far! Watch out for cars!" Darry called after me.

I shook my head once I was out of his sight. Darry. He can't trust me or Soda alone. It's not like we're three. I've been fourteen for a while now and Soda just turned seventeen. He can't keep us fenced in like sheep forever. Soda will be an adult next year. Soda's actually not much younger than Darry himself. Darry is almost twenty-one and has been looking after us since he was nineteen when mom and dad died. He had to mature a lot faster than us, I guess.

I walked across the street and knocked on Johnny's front door. Unlike ours, it's always locked. Johnny answered with a relieved look on his face. I could tell that he had been through a whole lot today. Johnny's parents didn't even seem to notice that I was here.

They were fighting over something stupid again. Most of the time the fights were about money, one way or another. Usually when they got Johnny involved it was about him. The rest of the times it was too stupid to even recognize the point in it.

"Get your feet off the sofa now, Richard!"

"Why should I? I been through a hard day working and I can do whatever I want in MY house!"

"Your house-"

"Yeah, my house! I'm the one who works to afford everything! So this is MY couch too!"

"You're saying I do nothing?"

"Damn right, that's what I'm sayin!"

I stopped listening there because I could tell that it was going to turn ugly (well, uglier) and it wasn't even worth listening to. I feel sorry for Johnny having to listen to this stuff all day. Well, all evening when his dad got back from work.

"Let's go," said Johnny said hastily pulling on his jean jacket.

And like that, he slammed the door as loud as he could. Yet still, they didn't give him any attention, nor will they ever. Just went on yelling at each other. I realized I was lucky to have a good brother like Darry to have a concern where I was going. Johnny's parents wouldn't even notice if he got run over by a bus. In fact, they'll be happy. They wouldn't have this son to deal with.

"Yeah," I said, "You all right?"

I noticed that he had a fresh bruise across his left cheek. I almost winced, but didn't because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. His father must have been beating him again. I was afraid to ask. I never wanted to ask, never wanted to make him uncomfortable. Johnny's been through enough hell in his sixteen years and when it went up in flames, he didn't show a sign of it other than the battle marks on his body.

"I'm fine now," he said, "Let's go."

I noticed how tense he was, clenching his fists in his jacket pocket.

"Calm down," I said, knowing that it wasn't easy to calm down after a day of this, "Do you want to stay at our house tonight?"

Anybody from our gang was welcome at our house and that's why the door was always unlocked.

"Thanks," he said a bit muffled since he was turned away from me.

"Where do you wanna go?" I asked him, "Darry said I can't stray off too far."

"We could just walk around, I guess, or maybe just go sit in the alley," Johnny suggested.

"Okay," I said.

The alley was a common place for us greasers to hang around. It wasn't a dangerous place (well, depends on if you have a blade), but rather a soothing place. We began to walk to the alley.

"You want a smoke?" I asked him, offering a pack of cigarettes at him.

Johnny smoked, like me, but he didn't do it often, because usually, he had no money for cigarettes. His parent's don't even keep them lying round the house, since they're always out. So, with lack of cigarettes, you cant really smoke. Usually he refused when I offered him because he felt that he was mooching off of me. But today, he took it. I lit it for him and lit mine up too.

"What have you been up to, Pony?" Johnny asked me after a long drag.

"Nothing really," I said, "School ended last week, so I've been home. Ended up acing my English finals."

"Good for you," Johnny said, "Now that school ended, I'm stuck all day in the house unless I find an excuse to go and do somethin' else."

"Why don't you come over our house?" I suggested.

"Nah, I don't wanna intrude on you guys all the time," Johnny said.

"Intrude on us? Johnny, you know that you're always welcome," I reminded him, "Come whenever you want to."

"But you and Darry and Soda are probably-"

"It's only me," I told him, "Darry and Soda are at work all day. And they're cool with it anyway. I could use some company."

"Thanks," Johnny flashed one of his rare smiles at me.

This summer was my first summer when both Darry and Soda were out working all day. With Darry at the construction site and Soda at the gas station, I'm left home alone on most days. Darry was not too thrilled about that. He taped a list of emergency phone numbers on the refrigerator, prepared my lunch ahead of time so that I don't try to cook and burn the house down, and even locked the door. He finished work at five and Soda finished at six. Soda worked Monday through Thursday, but Darry worked five days a week.

I hate the fact that there is no summer vacation when you work. At least during the school year, I'm in school and I don't notice it as much. I don't get to see my brothers as often as I used to. But I don't really want to talk about it now because it reminds me of how they're older than me and sooner or later we'll grow more apart and not even see each other every day.

From the alley, you had a good view of the stars. A million little stars that light up the sky and when you look up, you think they're about to cascade down and land in your hair like little sparkles. Johnny loved the stars.

"Look, Pony, I could see Orion's Belt tonight."

I looked up in the direction he was looking and saw nothing but a tangled mess of stars scrambled together like the letters in a word search. Johnny just had an eye for these types of things. I was the one who first showed him the constellations, merely cause I could see them. It was ironic, cause most of the times, I'm not even paying attention to the constellations. I looked only to appreciate the beauty of the natural sight. In fact, I was the one who first showed Johnny how to appreciate it, I didn't dig to find any meaning, like I usually did, I just… looked. In my opinion, not everything had to have a meaning.

I heard a noise like a car door slamming. I tilted my head to see what was going on. I jumped to my feet seeing that it was a bright blue Mercedes. The kind that only Socs drive.

Johnny bolted up to follow me.

"Come on," I whispered to him, trying not to sound panicky, "Socs."

At the word 'Socs', his eyes lit up in flames. The same mind of Socs that had attacked him when he was younger. The same Socs that scarred a thin line on the side of his jaw. The same kind of Socs he killed. Just not the same exact individuals. But they were all the same to him. Filthy, evil, merciless. He didn't know how it was, but I couldn't really convince him so soon, Someday I would talk about it with him. Today's just not that day.

He stuck his hand in his pocket to grip his blade.

"If we make a run for it, you won't need that Johnny," I whispered.

There was no sight of Socs at the opening of the alley where we had entered. So we dashed over to the side of the brick wall. But it was too late. It was to late to discover that there were Socs hiding on the other side of the wall. I heard a deep, raw, voice right next to my ear.

There was a Soc behind me.

"What's up, Greasers?" he said, a giant, evil grin spread across his handsome face.

My pulse increased by triple and I could tell by the way Johnny was breathing that he'd nearly had a heart attack. No matter how many encounters we had, nothing could ever repair our relationship with the Socs.

The boy who had spoken led his posse of Socs past us. Three others. All muscular, dressed in madras shirts, with weapons, I could tell. We were way outnumbered.

"What're you two doing out here so late?" mocked another one, "Little ones like you shouldn't be roaming out night."

"Who're you callin' a little one?" Johnny asked, "I'm taller than you."

The Soc gritted his teeth.

"You two on a date?" the guy who had spoken first asked, though he obviously knew it wasn't true. "Do we have ourselves a set of queers here?"

Johnny looked as if he were about to punch the guy's jaw out of his head, but continued to latch onto the blade in his pocket. Johnny hated starting fights. When we gave no response, another Soc ran his mouth.

"I think we do, Dave," he said, "We might have to teach them a lesson 'bout being in our alley."

"Your alley?" I said, "This alley ain't even in your side of town. So scram!"

"I don't think we will, will we, Ricky?" asked the leader, Dave, said.

"No, I think we want to teach them a lesson 'bout hanging 'round us when we want _them_ to scram," Ricky answered.

"Why don't y'all go ahead and teach yourselves a lesson? Maybe a good beating could fix your mouth," Johnny shot suddenly.

"Why you little-" the Soc muttered before he punched Johnny in the gut.

Johnny winced a bit and then punched him in return right in the nose, which must have broken, since blood flowed all over his hand. The guy, the short one who was named Ricky, doubled over and grabbed his bloody nose. For a second, I forgot that there were two other Socs against us and Johnny shouted, "Watch out Pony!"

Watch out for what? I felt an arm tighten around my throat and a voice growled, "What kind of a fruit bowl name is Pony?"

I tried to break his grip, but it only got tighter, suffocating me. I saw a glimmer of silver and realized he had a blade near my throat. And a long one at that.

Johnny was jetting towards him to try and help me, but the Soc said, "Stop right there, pipsqueak. You try anything and the knife goes straight through his throat."

Johnny's dark eyes widened. And he wasn't a pipsqueak. He wasn't small like he used to be and one of the bravest guys I've ever known in my life. He saved my life once and he would do it again. I soon learned that he wasn't afraid of Dave, but it was something he saw that made his eyes widen.

"Greaser, you ready for the beating of a lifetime?" Dave said, about to graze the tip of the blade across my throat.

"Hit me with your best shot," I growled, even though it was risky considering he was cutting off my air supply. That was not a pun.

He turned around, realizing that Johnny was staring at something behind him.

"What're you looking-"

Just then, it felt like he got a blow to the face. Dave fell forward on me unconscious, but I managed to release his grip before he hit the ground. The knife did cut me a little bit from the force of the fall, but nothing bad. I caught it and looked to where we were standing.

Darry was now standing there with his hand in a fist.

"Nobody does that to my little brother! You hear?" he shouted at the remaining Socs.

Apparently they felt the same way about him punching Dave because one immediately went to go fight him. It was on. The guy was very big and around Darry's own size. Not heavy, but very tall and burly, like Superman. Not to mention that the other remaining Soc teamed up to gang up on Darry.

Johnny and I just stood there and watched for a little while, until we realized that there was still trouble. We were going in to help as somebody grabbed my ankle. I tried to pull away. I kicked and yelled and stomped on his arm, but he wouldn't restrain. It was Ricky, the Soc with the bloody nose. We had forgotten all about him.

Johnny hit and even flashed his blade at the guy, but it did no good. His grip was like super glue. Dave was now conscious again. He got up and walked towards me a bit wobbly. I pulled harder, but the grip on my leg just got tighter. I prayed that Dave was here to tell Ricky to let me go because he had lost his memory when Darry knocked the lights out of him. But I knew it didn't work that way, and as I expected, Dave's memory was fine.

He got me in a chokehold again and glared at Johnny with a you-better-not-come-any-closer look.

"You try to play super hero, and I kill you both. Nobody knocks out Dave Cartwright," he warned.

Killing? Was this how low it had gotten? Johnny froze and Darry was terrified when he saw me. However, he already had two Socs to deal with and could not come help me again. I was breathing heavily now, panicking. I tried to pull away, since I had run out of oxygen, stifling for air, but he wrapped his arm tighter, like a poisonous snake coiling.

It was so dark that you could barely see the Socs and Darry and Johnny. Johnny's eyes were fixed on something behind us.

"What do you think you're looking at again, greaser? I'm not falling for that one again! You think you're so funny don't you? Ha ha ha! I'll look just to prove it to you that there's nothing there! Your brother cant save you now!" Dave yelled.

Suddenly, Dave let out a high-pitched, but low squeal like a little mouse. I felt something wet on the part of me that was touched his upper arm. Then I heard a gross squishing sound as he cried in pain. He turned around right before he could get his lights knocked out for a second time. I turned around and someone I had never seen in my life was standing there.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Bad Reputation"- Joan Jett (all 80s chicrockers so far)

Pony P.O.V

It was a girl. Well, a woman. She looked around Darry's age, around 20. She was an tall for a girl, around 5'8''. She had a very slim figure, but still looked strong. She had long, shiny, brown hair and light blue-green eyes. She was wearing a tight black shirt without sleeves (tank top, I think they're called) and tight dark-washed jeans. It looked good on her. The accessory? A 6-inch blade dripping blood.

The girl had stabbed him in the spot of flesh between his shoulder and neck. There was now a little pool of blood around his joint.

I was pretty sure I had never seen her before, but she looked a bit familiar. Did she live in our neighborhood? I didn't get such a great look at her because she ran off quickly right to the spot where Darry was wrestling the two Socs, which obviously didn't have weapons because they would have used them by now. He wouldn't let Johnny come in.

What was the girl doing? She ran right into the middle of the fight. And since she was unexpected, she bashed the big guy right in the jaw. The guy cursed and she and Darry each took a Soc one-on-one.

Johnny and I scared the Soc with the broken nose off and Dave was still out cold. Now that there was one less Soc to handle, Darry finished off the guy he was fighting and the girl did as well. You should have seen her in action. Johnny and I stood there gape-mouthed. It looked like she was doing some sort of martial art. She was jumping up, spinning, kicking, punching- it was like an action movie. And she finished him off with one last flying kick to the chest.

She did a high five with Darry, who didn't look too thrilled, and caught her breath. The two walked over to us and apparently, some others near the other opening of the alley go slightly closer. I had hardly noticed because it was so dark and hard to see.

As soon as both Darry and the girl caught their breath, he hugged me tightly and started to thank her.

"Thank you so much!" he told her while still keeping his cool (I had no idea how he could do that so well) "You saved my brother."

"No problem," she said as if she did this every day, "I always like to help out my fellow greasers and greasettes."

Greasettes? There were greasettes?

"I owe you two," he said, "I don't know how long that fight would have gone on if you hadn't joined in."

She smiled at him and leaned in real close and said, "Between you and me, I like myself a good fight. Teach those Socs not to mess with us."

I noticed that she had a little scar right below her eye, but it was minor. She was kinda pretty, actually. You couldn't really see it when she was jumping into fights, but she was an attractive girl. She had "fair skin" like my skin. Her hair was mostly straight and I think lighter than her eyes. She's pretty.

Darry looked down at the unconscious Dave a little disgusted and asked, "Is he going to be okay?"

"He should be fine," the girl said and then paused, her expression turning grim, "In terms of surviving. It'll definitely leave a mark, but he'll be out cold for a while. He won't die though."

"Oh, that's a relief," Darry said sarcastically.

She grinned and stuck out her hand,

"My name is Natalie Davis. But my friends call me Nat."

Darry shook her hand and said, "My name is Darrel Curtis. But my friends call me Darry."

"Well Darry, the pleasures all mine. It's not often we meet nice boys like you. Usually, when we try and help someone, they're embarrassed that a girl helped them and walk off like it never happened."

I guess she considered them friends now. Wasn't very tuff, what the other guys did. Somebody helps them, possibly saves their life and they don't even have the decency to thank them at least. I could tell that Darry was blushing even though it was dark. I know my brother.

"Well you must not have helped many decent guys," Darry said, thinking he was being funny.

"No, we probably haven't," Nat said.

"We?" he asked.

"My gang," she said, "You think you're he only one with a gang? You think only men can have a gang?"

The idea of a girl having a gang was a bit, um, new to us, but that didn't mean that we weren't ready to accept it. It was actually pretty tuff that they were doing something to help out the greaser community. I've heard of girl greasers before. They're our kind, but they don't actually fight. They just date boy greasers and live in our neighborhood. Nothing else. No gangs or anything like that. Can't be bothered, I guess. Reminds me of Sandy, Soda's ex-girlfriend.

"No, of course not," Darry said quickly, "Its just that we've never met a girl greaser gang."

"Greasettes," she corrected, "Greasettes gang."

"I was just thinking, wouldn't the Socs and other Greasers and Hoods be more harsh towards you?" he asked, "You know, being girls and all.''

She raised an eyebrow, "Why? You assume that because we're girls that we're more vulnerable and that greasers are tougher than greasettes?"

"No," Darry said again, trying not to insult her, "I was just saying, you know, there are some pretty messed-up people and- well, of course we're not any tougher than you, I just meant-"

"Where'd you learn how to fight like that?" I blurted out to her, sort of saving Darry more embarrassment.

"He's cute," she said, almost laughing.

My face got red. Lucky it was dark. How was I cute?

Darry just laughed along and ruffled my hair which he knew I specifically hated, "Little tyke."

Little tyke? Since when does he talk to me like I'm three?

"I took a Kung Fu class at the community center years ago," she said, "I'm a black belt."

Impressive. And I thought knowing gymnastics was something to toot my own horn about.

Darry was a bit speechless.

"Wow! That was cool!" I said.

Nat smiled, "Thanks."

"Do you want to come over and have some coffee or something?" Darry offered, "Is the least we can do."

"Maybe some other time," she declined, "I can't keep the girls waiting. But I do hope to see you boys again."

"Anyway," said Darry, changing the subject, "Nice meeting you but Pony's a bit tired, so we'll see you around."

"No, I'm no-"

But I stopped there realizing that that was what Darry wanted her to think. I don't think she bought it.

"Pony? That's an original name," she said.

"My dad was an original guy," I said, "And actually, it's Ponyboy. Ponyboy Curtis."

"Well, see you guys around," she said, walking away and waving.

She walked toward the girls in the other side of the alley waiting for her. I didn't notice them. There were two, but I didn't get a good look. Maybe I recognized one of them. I was sure to have seen Nat somewhere.

I noticed now that Johnny didn't have any input to the conversation. I figured it was because Johnny was quiet, but I soon learned the real reason why. As we were walking back to the house, Johnny and I trailing behind Darry, Johnny said to me dreamily,

"Wasn't she somethin'?"

"Yeah, she was," I said, "Hate to break it to you buddy, but she's a good three or four years older than you."

Johnny was 16.

He snapped back into reality and said, "What? Which one are you talkin' about? She can't have been more than fifteen of sixteen."

"Dude, there was only one. I'm talking about the girl who saved me. You know, the one who kicked ass with Darry?"

"Oh, yeah, that one was a _lot _older. Like Darry's age or somethin'. You crazy? I mean, yeah, she was pretty, but that ain't who I'm talkin' about," he said.

"Which one were you talking about then?"

"You know, the younger one, the one looked around my age. She was wearing a long, flowy skirt and her hair was wavy and shiny-"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Johnny. You mean one of those girls on the other side of the alley?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, "How'd you not notice?"

"How DID you notice?" I asked him.

He shrugged, "I thought it was obvious."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "It's obvious for me to see some girl in the distance across a dark alley, when there's a perfectly beautiful girl standing right there talking to me. Speaking of? Did you actually hear any of the conversation?"

"Yeah," said Johnny, "I just spaced out when she started talkin' bout Kung Fu." (a/n- Karate Kid!)

"Girl greasers, that's something," I said.

"Greasettes," Johnny corrected the way Natalie had.

"Did you see the way Darry was acting 'round her?" I asked.

"What're you talkin' about?" Johnny said, " He was wreck. The way he stuttered while saying his name and was thankin' her so much. If you hadn't cut in, they would have stood there chatting all night."

"Yeah, I know," I said, "But I'm not sure she's into him."

Johnny shrugged. He didn't know much about girls himself. I had to tell Soda about this. Johnny and I caught up to Darry who was walking very briskly.

"Thanks for saving me," I said, "But how did you just happen to be there when I was in trouble?"

"Let's say I went out for a smoke," Darry said, which was a lie, because Darry never smoked.

"So in other words, you wanted to keep an eye on us," Johnny interpreted.

"Yes," Darry said, "To be honest, I didn't want Pony to be out this late."

And then he turned on me.

"I said that you could walk around the neighborhood, not sit in an alley. If you do that, you're askin' for trouble."

"But Darry, we've done it before and nothing happened," I protested.

"One time is all it takes. If that girl wasn't around to help you, you would've had a knife through your throat."

"You know, the girl has a name," I told him, changing the subject.

"Yes, I know," Darry said, "And I don't want you trying to find her again."

*a/n- thanks everyone for al the views, but if you want this story to go anywhere, i'm gonna need some follows or reviews! At least 4 if you guys want a chapter 3. It may be starting off kind of slow, but i promise there's lots to come! :)


	3. Chapter 3

*Author's Note(s)

Yeah, I know I always have to write one of these but I just have to for some reason, Its like putting a cover on a book.

**Before most chapters, I will usually write a song title. It's not big deal. Just depending on the POV its in, that's how the character feels in this chapter or what's going on. For example, there's a fighting scene in chapter 1. And again, none of the songs will be from the 60's or before. I listen to music 24/7 ESPECIALLY when I'm writing, so It's hard for me not to do this.

***Disclaimer- I almost forgot to do the disclaimer. The Outsiders belong to S.E. Hinton. Believe me, if I owned the Outsiders, I wouldn't be here 3

****This is post-book. The only difference I that I didn't make Johnny and Dallas die. Yeah, I know, im a disappointment, but I couldn't do this without them. Finally, let the story begin!

Chapter 1

"Hit Me With Your Best Shot"- Pat Benatar

Pony POV

"Pony where're you going?"

It was my oldest brother Darry. Darry always had to know where I was going, how, how long and why. But I guess what declared him a suitable guardian for Soda, my other older brother, and I. He's as strict as a parent would be. Just not as adult.

"I'm going out," I replied turning the unlocked doorknob of our back door.

"Where?"

"Around the neighborhood," I said.

"Why?"

"Johnny and I are taking a walk," I told him.

"Now?"

"No, tomorrow" I said sarcastically.

Darry rolled his eyes, "Pony, its late and dark outside."

"Yeah, I know. But I had a blade and I'll be with Johnny anyway," I protested.

Right when I was real sure he was gonna say something about Johnny not being real tough, I cut him off.

"And Johnny has a blade, too," I said.

"Fine," Darry said, "Be careful and be back by eleven."

I checked my watch. 10:23. I only had about forty minutes. But I knew the way Darry is. He was awful reluctant to even let me go, but after the whole incident moths ago, he decided to be more laid-back. That is a pretty tough job if you have ever met my brother Darry.

Now you're probably asking why I need more than forty minutes to take a walk. Because the truth is, I was really going for a walk with Johnny. Johnny is my best friend and as you probably figured I care a lot about him and we hang out a lot. He lives on our block and tonight as I was riding my bike before dinner, I heard a lot of yelling and crashing and slapping coming from his house as I passed it. Must have meant he and his parents were fighting again. I wonder how nobody noticed this. He had neighbors, and people knew about the things Johnny was being put through, yet things stayed in the same desolate fashion as always. Whenever I heard noise like that coming from his house, I always wanted to see him to make sure he was alright and calm him down. Though I would never be calm if I had monsters of parents like his. We sit and talk in the alley for a few hours or go to the park and read _Gone With the Wind_, his favorite aloud, or even just sit by the pond and look at the stars and skip stones. Johnny likes the stars.

And Darry lets me go because he is aware of what Johnny was going through and figures he does need comforting. As long as I'm not with Dally this late, it's fine. Johnny's a real nice guy.

So I walked out the door slipping on my leather jacket.

"Oh and don't go too far! Watch out for cars!" Darry called after me.

I shook my head once I was out of his sight. Darry. He can't trust me or Soda alone. It's not like we're three. I've been fourteen for a while now and Soda just turned seventeen. He can't keep us fenced in like sheep forever. Soda will be an adult next year. Soda's actually not much younger than Darry himself. Darry is almost twenty-one and has been looking after us since he was nineteen when mom and dad died. He had to mature a lot faster than us, I guess.

I walked across the street and knocked on Johnny's front door. Unlike ours, it's always locked. Johnny answered with a relieved look on his face. I could tell that he had been through a whole lot today. Johnny's parents didn't even seem to notice that I was here.

They were fighting over something stupid again. Most of the time the fights were about money, one way or another. Usually when they got Johnny involved it was about him. The rest of the times it was too stupid to even recognize the point in it.

"Get your feet off the sofa now, Richard!"

"Why should I? I been through a hard day working and I can do whatever I want in MY house!"

"Your house-"

"Yeah, my house! I'm the one who works to afford everything! So this is MY couch too!"

"You're saying I do nothing?"

"Damn right, that's what I'm sayin!"

I stopped listening there because I could tell that it was going to turn ugly (well, uglier) and it wasn't even worth listening to. I feel sorry for Johnny having to listen to this stuff all day. Well, all evening when his dad got back from work.

"Let's go," said Johnny said hastily pulling on his jean jacket.

And like that, he slammed the door as loud as he could. Yet still, they didn't give him any attention, nor will they ever. Just went on yelling at each other. I realized I was lucky to have a good brother like Darry to have a concern where I was going. Johnny's parents wouldn't even notice if he got run over by a bus. In fact, they'll be happy. They wouldn't have this son to deal with.

"Yeah," I said, "You all right?"

I noticed that he had a fresh bruise across his left cheek. I almost winced, but didn't because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. His father must have been beating him again. I was afraid to ask. I never wanted to ask, never wanted to make him uncomfortable. Johnny's been through enough hell in his sixteen years and when it went up in flames, he didn't show a sign of it other than the battle marks on his body.

"I'm fine now," he said, "Let's go."

I noticed how tense he was, clenching his fists in his jacket pocket.

"Calm down," I said, knowing that it wasn't easy to calm down after a day of this, "Do you want to stay at our house tonight?"

Anybody from our gang was welcome at our house and that's why the door was always unlocked.

"Thanks," he said a bit muffled since he was turned away from me.

"Where do you wanna go?" I asked him, "Darry said I can't stray off too far."

"We could just walk around, I guess, or maybe just go sit in the alley," Johnny suggested.

"Okay," I said.

The alley was a common place for us greasers to hang around. It wasn't a dangerous place (well, depends on if you have a blade), but rather a soothing place. We began to walk to the alley.

"You want a smoke?" I asked him, offering a pack of cigarettes at him.

Johnny smoked, like me, but he didn't do it often, because usually, he had no money for cigarettes. His parent's don't even keep them lying round the house, since they're always out. So, with lack of cigarettes, you cant really smoke. Usually he refused when I offered him because he felt that he was mooching off of me. But today, he took it. I lit it for him and lit mine up too.

"What have you been up to, Pony?" Johnny asked me after a long drag.

"Nothing really," I said, "School ended last week, so I've been home. Ended up acing my English finals."

"Good for you," Johnny said, "Now that school ended, I'm stuck all day in the house unless I find an excuse to go and do somethin' else."

"Why don't you come over our house?" I suggested.

"Nah, I don't wanna intrude on you guys all the time," Johnny said.

"Intrude on us? Johnny, you know that you're always welcome," I reminded him, "Come whenever you want to."

"But you and Darry and Soda are probably-"

"It's only me," I told him, "Darry and Soda are at work all day. And they're cool with it anyway. I could use some company."

"Thanks," Johnny flashed one of his rare smiles at me.

This summer was my first summer when both Darry and Soda were out working all day. With Darry at the construction site and Soda at the gas station, I'm left home alone on most days. Darry was not too thrilled about that. He taped a list of emergency phone numbers on the refrigerator, prepared my lunch ahead of time so that I don't try to cook and burn the house down, and even locked the door. He finished work at five and Soda finished at six. Soda worked Monday through Thursday, but Darry worked five days a week.

I hate the fact that there is no summer vacation when you work. At least during the school year, I'm in school and I don't notice it as much. I don't get to see my brothers as often as I used to. But I don't really want to talk about it now because it reminds me of how they're older than me and sooner or later we'll grow more apart and not even see each other every day.

From the alley, you had a good view of the stars. A million little stars that light up the sky and when you look up, you think they're about to cascade down and land in your hair like little sparkles. Johnny loved the stars.

"Look, Pony, I could see Orion's Belt tonight."

I looked up in the direction he was looking and saw nothing but a tangled mess of stars scrambled together like the letters in a word search. Johnny just had an eye for these types of things. I was the one who first showed him the constellations, merely cause I could see them. It was ironic, cause most of the times, I'm not even paying attention to the constellations. I looked only to appreciate the beauty of the natural sight. In fact, I was the one who first showed Johnny how to appreciate it, I didn't dig to find any meaning, like I usually did, I just… looked. In my opinion, not everything had to have a meaning.

I heard a noise like a car door slamming. I tilted my head to see what was going on. I jumped to my feet seeing that it was a bright blue Mercedes. The kind that only Socs drive.

Johnny bolted up to follow me.

"Come on," I whispered to him, trying not to sound panicky, "Socs."

At the word 'Socs', his eyes lit up in flames. The same mind of Socs that had attacked him when he was younger. The same Socs that scarred a thin line on the side of his jaw. The same kind of Socs he killed. Just not the same exact individuals. But they were all the same to him. Filthy, evil, merciless. He didn't know how it was, but I couldn't really convince him so soon, Someday I would talk about it with him. Today's just not that day.

He stuck his hand in his pocket to grip his blade.

"If we make a run for it, you won't need that Johnny," I whispered.

There was no sight of Socs at the opening of the alley where we had entered. So we dashed over to the side of the brick wall. But it was too late. It was to late to discover that there were Socs hiding on the other side of the wall. I heard a deep, raw, voice right next to my ear.

There was a Soc behind me.

"What's up, Greasers?" he said, a giant, evil grin spread across his handsome face.

My pulse increased by triple and I could tell by the way Johnny was breathing that he'd nearly had a heart attack. No matter how many encounters we had, nothing could ever repair our relationship with the Socs.

The boy who had spoken led his posse of Socs past us. Three others. All muscular, dressed in madras shirts, with weapons, I could tell. We were way outnumbered.

"What're you two doing out here so late?" mocked another one, "Little ones like you shouldn't be roaming out night."

"Who're you callin' a little one?" Johnny asked, "I'm taller than you."

The Soc gritted his teeth.

"You two on a date?" the guy who had spoken first asked, though he obviously knew it wasn't true. "Do we have ourselves a set of queers here?"

Johnny looked as if he were about to punch the guy's jaw out of his head, but continued to latch onto the blade in his pocket. Johnny hated starting fights. When we gave no response, another Soc ran his mouth.

"I think we do, Dave," he said, "We might have to teach them a lesson 'bout being in our alley."

"Your alley?" I said, "This alley ain't even in your side of town. So scram!"

"I don't think we will, will we, Ricky?" asked the leader, Dave, said.

"No, I think we want to teach them a lesson 'bout hanging 'round us when we want _them_ to scram," Ricky answered.

"Why don't y'all go ahead and teach yourselves a lesson? Maybe a good beating could fix your mouth," Johnny shot suddenly.

"Why you little-" the Soc muttered before he punched Johnny in the gut.

Johnny winced a bit and then punched him in return right in the nose, which must have broken, since blood flowed all over his hand. The guy, the short one who was named Ricky, doubled over and grabbed his bloody nose. For a second, I forgot that there were two other Socs against us and Johnny shouted, "Watch out Pony!"

Watch out for what? I felt an arm tighten around my throat and a voice growled, "What kind of a fruit bowl name is Pony?"

I tried to break his grip, but it only got tighter, suffocating me. I saw a glimmer of silver and realized he had a blade near my throat. And a long one at that.

Johnny was jetting towards him to try and help me, but the Soc said, "Stop right there, pipsqueak. You try anything and the knife goes straight through his throat."

Johnny's dark eyes widened. And he wasn't a pipsqueak. He wasn't small like he used to be and one of the bravest guys I've ever known in my life. He saved my life once and he would do it again. I soon learned that he wasn't afraid of Dave, but it was something he saw that made his eyes widen.

"Greaser, you ready for the beating of a lifetime?" Dave said, about to graze the tip of the blade across my throat.

"Hit me with your best shot," I growled, even though it was risky considering he was cutting off my air supply. That was not a pun.

He turned around, realizing that Johnny was staring at something behind him.

"What're you looking-"

Just then, it felt like he got a blow to the face. Dave fell forward on me unconscious, but I managed to release his grip before he hit the ground. The knife did cut me a little bit from the force of the fall, but nothing bad. I caught it and looked to where we were standing.

Darry was now standing there with his hand in a fist.

"Nobody does that to my little brother! You hear?" he shouted at the remaining Socs.

Apparently they felt the same way about him punching Dave because one immediately went to go fight him. It was on. The guy was very big and around Darry's own size. Not heavy, but very tall and burly, like Superman. Not to mention that the other remaining Soc teamed up to gang up on Darry.

Johnny and I just stood there and watched for a little while, until we realized that there was still trouble. We were going in to help as somebody grabbed my ankle. I tried to pull away. I kicked and yelled and stomped on his arm, but he wouldn't restrain. It was Ricky, the Soc with the bloody nose. We had forgotten all about him.

Johnny hit and even flashed his blade at the guy, but it did no good. His grip was like super glue. Dave was now conscious again. He got up and walked towards me a bit wobbly. I pulled harder, but the grip on my leg just got tighter. I prayed that Dave was here to tell Ricky to let me go because he had lost his memory when Darry knocked the lights out of him. But I knew it didn't work that way, and as I expected, Dave's memory was fine.

He got me in a chokehold again and glared at Johnny with a you-better-not-come-any-closer look.

"You try to play super hero, and I kill you both. Nobody knocks out Dave Cartwright," he warned.

Killing? Was this how low it had gotten? Johnny froze and Darry was terrified when he saw me. However, he already had two Socs to deal with and could not come help me again. I was breathing heavily now, panicking. I tried to pull away, since I had run out of oxygen, stifling for air, but he wrapped his arm tighter, like a poisonous snake coiling.

It was so dark that you could barely see the Socs and Darry and Johnny. Johnny's eyes were fixed on something behind us.

"What do you think you're looking at again, greaser? I'm not falling for that one again! You think you're so funny don't you? Ha ha ha! I'll look just to prove it to you that there's nothing there! Your brother cant save you now!" Dave yelled.

Suddenly, Dave let out a high-pitched, but low squeal like a little mouse. I felt something wet on the part of me that was touched his upper arm. Then I heard a gross squishing sound as he cried in pain. He turned around right before he could get his lights knocked out for a second time. I turned around and someone I had never seen in my life was standing there.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Good Day- The Click Five

"Ponyboy Curtis!" Soda hollered at me, "Wake up right now!"

My eyes shot open, but I closed them again.

"What?" I mumbled.

"Pony!"

"Fine," I said, reopening my eyes all the way and sitting up on my bed.

He rolled up my window shades and toxic light burst into the room. The sun was out and stronger than ever, so I guess it wasn't really early morning, like I thought.

"What time is it?" I asked my brother, yawning.

"Noon," Soda replied casually.

"Noon!" I repeated loudly, "You let me sleep till noon?"

"Look buddy, we're all tired," Soda said, though it sure didn't look like it judging by his appearance, "Enjoy sleeping in while you can."

"Is Johnny still here?" I asked.

"Yep," said Soda, "Told me he got up a little while ago and didn't feel like going home to get slapped for burning the bacon or something."

I wanted to say something, but what to say? This was perfectly normal in the Cade household. Poor Johnny.

"Wait, why aren't you at work?" I asked Soda, "it's Wednesday, and you leave at nine."

"It's lunch break," he said, "Darry told me to come and check up on you if you weren't up by the time I left."

"Soda!" rang Steve's voice from down the staircase, "Hurry up! Pizza Palace is having a buy four, get free drinks plus refills special!"

"'Kay, Steve, just give me a minute," Soda called back from our room.

I could hear Steve groan. Soda stood up from the squat position he was in to be level with my bed.

He looked down at me and asked, "You and Johnny wanna come along and have some lunch?"

"Nah, thanks, Soda," I said, "We'll just hang around here and eat a late breakfast. Besides, I don't think Steve would be up for me tagging along again."

"Never mind Steve," he said, "Ya sure?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Hang in there and I'll see ya later."

Don't get me wrong, Steve's a good guy and all, but we're not exactly on the friendly side. He doesn't like it much when Soda lets me hang out with them. I've always been the annoying baby brother to him and I probably will always be. I guess some things will just never change.

I jumped up out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt. I was already wearing jeans and changed my socks, so I guess I was set.

Soda peered back into our room.

"You think you're so sexy sleeping without a shirt, eh?" he joked, "Why don't you go borrow some of Darry's aftershave, too? Then you'll be a sexy beast, like he is."

I laughed. Laughing was one of the things Soda could always make me do. Imagining Darry thinking he was sexy.

"Bye!" I said.

"Okay, bye," said Soda, leaving my room again.

When I heard Soda and Steve leave and close the front door (not lock it), I went downstairs.

Before that, I checked for Johnny in the guestroom, but there was no sign he had even been in there. The bed was all made up and neat and that was it. I figured he must be downstairs eating. I don't blame him if he is. It's so late.

I was right. Johnny was in my kitchen, but he wasn't eating. Instead, he was talking to Dally and Two-Bit at the kitchen table. Then they noticed me.

"Hey, the Ponester's up!" Two-Bit called.

"Oh, Pony, you're awake!" Johnny said.

"We thought you died," Dally said with a straight face.

I laughed. That was Dallas Winston's dry humor for you.

"Well after what happened yesterday, the kid needs his sleep," he said.

"What happened yesterday?" I asked.

"What happened yesterday? Your big fight, man!" Dally said, "You were awesome!"

"Oh, I didn't know that you knew," I said.

"Johnny told us _everything_!" Two-Bit explained, "You're a regular hero!"

"What? I didn't even-" then I paused.

Wait, what exactly did Johnny tell them? That I was almost choked and stabbed and then rescued by Darry and a GIRL? That couldn't be impressive at all.

"Yeah, I'm hungry," I said through my teeth, "Johnny, please accompany me to the refrigerator."

I turned back at Dally and Two-Bit, "You guys want anything?"

"Nah, thanks" Dally said, "I ate already."

"Whadaya have?" Two-Bit asked, "I'm always in the mood for a snack."

"I'll get you something," I said.

We went to the refrigerator on the other side of the room and as I opened it, muttered to Johnny, "What exactly did you tell 'em?"

"I told 'em the truth," Johnny said.

"How much of the truth? They're acting like I just saved the world," I said.

"Most of it."

"What? But Darry doesn't want anyone to know about this!" I said.

"Don't worry, I didn't mention even Nat."

"Okay, good. But why were they overreacting about me? I didn't even do anything," I said.

"I kind of, um, stretched the truth and said you helped Darry beat up the Socs. You know, just to make you not seem like a wimp," Johnny elaborated.

"So I'm a wimp now?" I asked.

"No, but you get what I mean," he said, "Everybody's a wimp in front of Dally."

We grabbed the chocolate cake, bacon, toast, jam, and milk. As I was about to open the freezer, I noticed a note taped to it. It was written in none other than Darry's large, but neat, handwriting:

_Pony, _

_If you wake up early enough to even eat breakfast, I don't want you and Johnny trying to cook. The regular rules still apply. We have some leftover cake and some toaster waffles, so you can make do with that. Stay out of trouble and see you later. _

_-Darry_

Having seen that, I shoved the bacon back into the refrigerator and got the toaster waffles instead. I wasn't allowed to use the frying pan yet, but I was allowed to use the toaster. On weekends, when Darry, Soda, and I got to spend the mornings together, Darry made either pancakes or eggs and bacon, and of course our favorite, chocolate cake. Darry's cake is the best, I would say. Since mine, is according to which ingredient I skimped on or omitted or put too much of on that day. I was not very good at following recipes.

On Fridays, when Soda was here, we experienced his eccentric cooking and had to eat whatever appealed to his palette that particular morning. Usually, it was something overly sweet, that only sugar addicts like Soda could possibly stomach. But Soda can obviously stomach anything, considering the fact that he had founded the pretzel yogurt ham whatever it was sandwich last night night. He would make double cinnamon chip muffins with crumb toping, strawberry swirl pancakes, lemon chiffon cake, chocolate chunk biscuits, and once, he even tried this creamy berry crepe thing. As for his chocolate cake, it was good, but he always added a surprise secret ingredient like orange zest or white chocolate chips. And of course, he couldn't forget to put three times the regular amount of frosting.

Call me old fashioned, but I like the regular version of chocolate cake the best. And no one can beat my mom's famous recipe. To make this more simple and not get even more off topic, I'll put it this way: Darry makes steak and potatoes. Soda turns it into "Steak au Poivre a la Soda" and a super sweet sweet potato soufflé. And me? I'll still be sitting there trying to figure out how to preheat an oven.

With Johnny's help, I dumped all the stuff out on the table. He sat down and I went to go start the coffee and put the waffles in the toaster. What Darry didn't know, couldn't hurt him.

"Dally, you want coffee?"

Dally checked his watch quickly and then turned back to me, "Yeah, sure, Pony. I guess I have time for a quick coffee. Lemme guess, Darry don't let you drink coffee."

My mischievous grin gave it away.

"Atta boy! Show those Socs what we're made of! " he said, as if he were egging me on that very night.

"Where are you going after this?" I asked him.

"Eh, I have to pass by Tim's place and give him back that handgun I borrowed from him last week. Ain't come of no use to me, unfortunately. Then I gotta go get my car fixed, hit some stupid deer on the road; it's antler dented my door. And after that, I gotta go see my sis," he said running us through his schedule.

Dally was almost eighteen, but he acted more like twenty-five. This was kind of weird though. Dally normally never followed through with his plans. But, yet, here he was glancing at the watch I didn't even know he had. But then again, he cared about himself more than anybody (except Johnny maybe) and his car getting fixed was for his own benefit and nobody else's. But why was he bothering to give Tim Shepard back his gun or going to visit relatives? I didn't even know he had any close relatives living in town.

He's not on good terms with his folks, who both have college diplomas and good jobs. Why does that not surprise me? We don't know much about Dally's life before the gang. We do know that has a brother and a sister, but we never met them. The brother's older than him, in his twenties I think and he's a businessman in the cities. Who wants to take a gander at what terms Dally's on with him? We know even less about the sister. We don't know how old she it, but the way Dally talks about her, I assume she's younger. He's on better terms with her, and they talk once in a while.

"Can I come with you?" Two-Bit asked eagerly.

"No," Dally said firmly, "Two- Bit, I ain't gonna take you to go fix up my car and hell knows how long we'll be there. I don't want you whinin' and givin' me a headache. And my sister ain't blonde if that's what you've been wonderin'."

Two-Bit made a sad puppy face.

"Coffee's ready," I said, pouring some into a cup for Dally and then setting the waffles that had popped out in a plate. I put them in the middle of the table along with the rest of the stuff and put in some toast, too.

Dally drank his coffee black. Darry liked to mix in milk. And Soda dumps in a truckload of sugar. I took a sip of the coffee I had poured for myself and offered some to Johnny, but he declined, settling for mint tea. I cannot drink tea. It is too bland for my tastes. Though coffee doesn't seem much better. It's bitter and has a weird taste to it. I have never had coffee before.

Dally took a sip and continued on, "And I thought I hit a close one last night. I went out with a few friends, drank, got a little wasted, and as soon as we all sobered up, we got hungry. So we headed to a 24-hour Bob's Barbeque Wings drive-thru, and I drive off afterwards to find that I've had my blinker off for the past three miles. Fuzz stops me, tells me to pay some fine and I drive off. They chase after me in their car, but I lost them after drivin' 'round for 20 minutes. And that's when I ran over that darned animal that dented my door."

I stuffed half of a toaster waffle in my mouth, not wanting to try the chocolate cake. I think it was Soda's.

I winced a little bit when he mentioned running over the deer. It was unintentional, but he didn't seem the least bit sorry for the poor thing. It was a living creature. And he hit it. I started thinking more about these things after Bob died. After Johnny stabbed him several months ago to save me. I thought about it when the burning wood of the church fell on Johnny's back when he was rescuing the children who had wandered inside to play. My best friend had been some close to dying and he had survived. There was an extremely slim-to-none chance he would never be able to walk again, but he overcame that, too, with weeks of physical therapy and if you saw him today, you wouldn't even tell that he had once been so severely injured except for a scar on his back and one on his bicep. The experience even made him stronger. He wasn't afraid to speak up anymore. He was no longer everybody's pet (maybe still Dally's, though).

And I watched Dally's attempted (and obviously failed suicide) when he was convinced Johnny was on the brink of death. The bullet had grazed him, but not killed him.

It soon occurred to me that animals were living, breathing souls, just like people. And they were being killed everyday, their lives running like water out of an eternal hose. Whether it was by a wreckless driver like Dally, or a poacher wanting it's fur or tusks to sell, or even by a hunter trying to get his next meal, their lives were not taken into as much consideration as the lives of humans. And yet human lives were still not considered any valuable than the loose change rattling around in your pocket.

Watching somebody dying or almost dying was the most horrible experience I ever went through. Even if it was a Soc named Bob who had tried to drown me in a fountain. It was the life being sucked out of one of God's creatures. Their souls vacating their bodies. The light blasting out of their eye sockets, like the life leaving their beings. It was a torturous thing; I could never bear seeing something like that again in my life time, not even in a movie where there were actors and fake blood. Death was cruel.

I sure tend to beat around the bush, don't I?

"Aw, Ponyboy, quit being a little nature lover! The darned deer was gonna kick the bucket some time anyhow. Whadaya expect if it's roamin' into the streets at night?" he said noting my attitude towards this.

Two- Bit had a story too, apparently.

"Man, I thought my story was the best," he said, "Y''all wanna hear my story?

We really didn't have a choice there. Two-Bit loved to tell stories, but not so much censoring his wording.

"So last night, I went out, don't remember much of what happened, but I got boozed up, and I had this fight with some guy."

He then drew us a very graphic picture of the fight between he and this guy. It was mostly cussing and swearing. No surprise there. While Two-Bit was telling the story, I experimented with coffee. I mixed in milk; still too bitter, but less so. I tried sugar; it was a bit better, I guess, but I wasn't crazy about it. I guess coffee just wasn't my thing. If caffeine was what I was looking for that I might as well just grab a Pepsi or something.

"Yeah and anyway, later that night, I met this great girl, her name was Tiffany, and she was loud and crazy and blonde- exactly my type. And boy was she-" he stopped.

"Do we want to know where this is going?" Johnny asked, interrupting him.

"Calm down, Johnnycakes! I was gonna say a talker," Two-Bit said, shoveling the cake down like he hadn't eaten in a week, "Geez, get you mind out of the gutter!"

I shook my head laughing, "Two-Bit, you're probably never gonna see this girl again. Like most of your catches."

"Oh really?" Two-Bit said with a smug grin, pulling a piece of folded paper out of his jeans pocket, "'Cause I got a phone number."

"A fake one, probably," Dally said.

"No, it's real," Two-Bit persisted, "It's got the area code and everything."

"Nice one," Dally said, doing a high five with him, "She attractive?"

"I thought that was a given," Two-Bit answered.

"When are ya gonna call her?" Johnny asked, rolling his eyes.

"Hm, I don't want to seem too desperate, so I'm gonna wait a while. Maybe tomorrow," he said, "But you know, she might call me today."

"Why are you gonna call her?" Dally asked in an agitated tone, "Why are you even gonna bother? Getting' a number doesn't mean you actually go callin' the girl. All girls are are a glorified ol' heap of trouble. They're up to no good. Plus, they cost time and money. Time and money I don't have for them. Or at least time and money I don't care to spend on them."

"Why?" Two-Bit asked stupidly.

"What is a girl gonna do for me that I can't do for myself? They don't even do nothin' useful 'til you marry them, and then it's game over for you, buddy. And what things do they even do? Cookin' an' cleanin, occasionally," he continued.

"Whatever," Two-Bit said, "I still want a girl and I ain't bitter like you."

Well, I'm glad that Two-Bit's love life is going well. And I'm glad that you can hear the sarcasm in my voice. Dally was bitter about his recent breakup with his on/off girlfriend, Sylvia last month- again. Though I wasn't sure why and neither was anybody else. She cheated on him and he cheated on her, so they were pretty much even. You would think the girl had put him through a living hell, the way he described her. You'd think he wouldn't care if she got hit by a bus tomorrow. He probably wouldn't. Like I said, a human life is just about as valuable as the change in your pocket, these days.

After Dally drained his coffee, he checked his watch again.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but my car appointment's at three and I've gotta get goin'. Thanks for the coffee, Pony."

And like that, he just walked out the door with his car keys and his deer-killing pride. I think he has a Ford Mustang, but if you're that interested in Dally's car, you should really ask either Soda or Steve. They're the car maniacs.

As soon as I could hear the car pull away, I broke the silence.

"What was with him?" I asked referring to Dally.

Two-Bit shrugged uncertainly and obviously anticipated for us to believe him.

"What do you know?" I confronted him.

"Nothing," he said.

"Seriously?"

"I'm being serious," he told me, "Dally won't tell me nothin'. If anyone, I would think Johnny would know somethin'. He's Dally's pet after all."

We looked at Johnny. He had stayed silent this whole time we were discussing this and it was likely Johnny knew at least a little more than we did.

"Johnny, do you know anything?" I asked.

Johnny didn't say anything. I don't think he likes to get involved with things that weren't his business much or even just giving out information he happened to know.

"How long's Dally been acting this way?" I asked, turning to Two-Bit.

He stopped to think, "Last week, I think. But Dally's always crazy in someway or another."

"Johnny?" I said again.

"I guess I know something," he admitted reluctantly.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

Pony POV

Welcome to My Life- Simple Plan

"What?" Two-Bit asked, "If you ain't gonna tell us now, we're gonna find it out for ourselves anyway."

"Well, on Sunday, over a beer, he was tellin' me some stuff, but I didn't really understand much of what he was trying to get through to me," Johnny said, "Something 'bout some girl and he was all worried about something. Said out of the blue that he ain't seen his sister in a year after all this rambling. Then he went back to talkin' bout the girl and said that she was here an' he couldn't believe that he was going to see her again. Then he cussed and swore some."

"You think the girl was Sylvia?" I asked.

"Not likely," Johnny said, "He still sees Sylvia around and it never worries him. Nothing more than just an ex, I guess. He has a lot of them. Anyway. He didn't say anything after that, and other than his bitterness, I reckon this ain't affected him much."

"Whatever," I said, "I thought he was on parole again. He was like that for a few weeks with Sylvia and he didn't tell anybody just to look like it wasn't bothering him when everybody knew it was."

Two-Bit was lost, "I'm sorry, what?"]

"I said that after he broke it off with Sylvia, he was acting the same way, but pretending it meant nothing to him," I put in simpler wording.

"Oh," Two-Bit said.

"That's just Dally," Johnny said, "Pretendin' like he's got a heart of stone."

"Man," said Two-Bit, "Ain't I glad school is over for two months. I don't need to get up so early an' bother to do anything."

I had no idea what he was talking about. That's what he did regardless of what time of the year it was. There was no real time for Two-Bit. He showed up everywhere whenever he felt like it and school was no exception. Sometimes he would show up during fourth period or lunch. And when he got there, the only thing that got done were his various shenanigans.

"Well, congratulations," Johnny said, speaking my thoughts, "You've managed to do that all 365 days of the year."

Two-Bit ignored his comment, "You exited, Johnnycakes? We're gonna be in the same grade this year!"

"Yes," said Johnny, "Your third year as a junior. Hats off to you."

"Since when do you make all the wisecracks?" Two-Bit asked, "Is your name Two-Bit?"

"No," Johnny said.

"And neither is mine!" Two-Bit grinned.

Two-Bit's real name was Keith. I think Steve was the one who first came up with his nickname and it stuck. Now nobody ever called him anything but Two-Bit (except for his mother and the teachers who insisted that his name was legally Keith). "Johnnycakes" and "Superman" (Darry) were also courtesy of Steve. As for Soda and I, those are our real names.

"Ha ha," I said, "And I bet by the time I'm a Junior, you'll still be there."

I'm almost a year and a half younger than Johnny, but I was moved up a grade for my "exceptional performance" in grade school, therefore, I am fourteen, but will be entering Sophomore year in September.

"I probably will," Two-Bit joked, "I'll probably be there when you graduate too."

"Would you actually stay that long?" I asked.

"Pony, if I don't move up this year, then I'm just gonna drop out like Soda. School ain't done nothin' for me in all the years I've been in it," Two-Bit said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He looked almost serious. Almost. Because Two-Bit is never serious.

Was he seriously going to give up? I would not be surprised if he did, but it's such a waste, you know? Two-Bit's not stupid. He just doesn't apply himself or try. If he did, then he would probably succeed, but he wouldn't be Two-Bit.

"Two-Bit, don't think that way," I said.

"Whatever, we'll see. The teachers' lives will be boring without someone driving them up the walls from eight to three," he said nonchalantly, with his habitual wide grin.

I just smiled. No use spoiling his constant good mood, if it was possible. Two-Bit always looked at the bright side and the way he saw things, there was pretty much a bright side to pretty much everything, which possibly contributed to his idiosyncratic happiness.

Two-Bit pulled out a pack of Kools and his red lighter.

"Darry says no smoking in the house," I told him.

That was a rule when my parents were still alive over a year ago, and it's a rule of Darry's. Though Darry was never a smoker, Soda and I are and I was the most prominent. It's pretty funny the way it works in an age order. I smoke the most and I admit it, even though I'm not even fifteen. Soda occasionally smokes when he's really distraught or pissed off at something, which is not often. And Darry doesn't smoke at all and he's almost twenty-one.

"Darry also says no coffee for you and guess who's drinking coffee?" Two-Bit shot back.

It sucked anyway.

Johnny said nothing. He just drained the last of his herbal tea. I still can't understand how drinks that stuff. It sucks even more than coffee.

Before I could defend myself, Two-Bit said, "Don't worry, I know Darry's rule. I was gonna get going anyway."

"Okay, bye Two-Bit," I said.

He turned around before he stepped out the door and said, "_You and Soda_ can't smoke in the house. He never said nothin' 'bout me."

Two-Bit. Always has to get his Two-Bits in.

A little while after Two-Bit left, I got a craving for a cigarette. I couldn't stay still in my seat for much longer. I had finished eating my late breakfast and I really had nothing to say.

"Johnny, I'm going out for a smoke," I told him offering a cigarette, "Come with?"

"Nah, I'm good," he said, though he followed me out the screen door.

He had on that face he had when he was thinking about something. It was a mixture between sadness and confusion. His eyes sort of looked past me into the distance. Into the horizon between the green grass and clear blue sky. He wasn't really staring at anything in particular as if he moved his gaze, he would break down in tears.

And I knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"What was it about?" I asked.

No answer.

"Johnny," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder and noticing a fairly fresh bruise, "You know that you don't need them. You know that you always have us. Soda, Darry, Two-Bit, Dallas, Steve and I. We care about you. You don't need anybody else. I've learned not to live with anybody else. When my parents died-"

"But Pony, you don't understand!" he nearly yelled back at me, "Your parents loved you. They were the kindest souls I ever met. I know its been tough on you in the past year and a half, but at least you don't got parents like mine! My dad hits me and my mom just screams at me all freaking day long like that's why she brought me into this damned world!"

Johnny only got upset like this when he talked or thought about them.

"Johnny-" there was no point in consoling him.

"Pony, you've told me time an' time again, but you don't understand- ugh! Why did this have to happen to me? I'm sorry I blew up at you like this! I'm sorry!-"

He was not in tears. He never cried in front of me.

"It's all right Johnny," I said, "You deserve to let it out! If it was me, I'd never be as strong as you! I would be a wreck."

"And what do ya think I am?" he asked exasperated.

"Johnny, you're not a wreck!" I said, "Johnny, not as your best friend, but as a complete stranger, an outsider, you're one of the strongest and bravest people I've ever met! You have to go through this crap every day and you never complain about anything! It's just not fair the way things are! Things aren't fair for the most part of us! My parents died and we're just scraping by with Darry and Soda's salaries. Dally's a pathological liar and doesn't even talk to most of his family. Two-Bit even met his father. We're all screwed! Why? I don't know! But we all have eachother."

"I'm takin' a walk," he announced in a slight whisper.

I lit my own cigarette. I knew he wanted to be alone and I respected that. So I just sat on the porch where we all went out to smoke so that Darry wouldn't have a heart attack if we did it in his living room.

I took a drag and I watched Johnny as he walked away with his olive skin and his dark hair blowing in the light summer breeze. Us boys and our tuff, tuff hair.

Little did I know that in some hours, I would trace his path in the walk that changed his summer. The walk that altered my teenage experience, too.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Johnny POV

"Holiday"- Boys Like Girls

I feel a bit bad leaving Pony behind smoking on the porch. But sometimes I just can't and I gotta be alone. Pony thinks that a stupid cigarette and a good cry could solve anything. I think, as his best friend, that he smokes way too much for his own good. God, he ain't even fifteen yet and his lungs'll be black by the time he's twenty. And I'm saying that as a sixteen-year-old boy. I smoke too, but not near as much as him. I don't even smoke every week; if that's the mood I'm in. Or if I don't have no cigarettes in my house.

I walked down the road. Fairview Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Oh, the irony. Things on this street are anything but fair, like Pony said. Most of the people on this side of town only grow up with one parent, and if they're lucky enough to have both, they just smack 'em around like my parents do to me. And look at what happened to Pony. He had two loving parents who would always stand by him, and what happens? They get into a car accident and die. Fate sure screwed him. But that's not the only problem here. There are money problems, fights constantly going on (as you can tell from what happened last night), and all the kids are flunking out of school. On top of it, the Socs are beating us all up. I'm just lucky that my parents don't notice my absence, so I could spend as little time in their house as possible.

I kicked some rocks over with my Converse and dust clouds formed. Dust clouds formed like the little bubbles of hope in this world. I looked up at the sky and made a wish. A wish to no one and nothing. I wasn't praying because I knew that our Jesus is a benevolent God (or whatever Preacher Ramsey said bout him) and wouldn't do nothing to put my parents in danger. It's too bad, and I know I shouldn't think that way. So I wished to myself for something stupid. That there could be a climax in my life. Something that changes everything in a good way. Something that could make my life better.

I roamed for what seemed like a lifetime. I walked past trees and beat-up cars and stray animals. I walked past the Piggly Wiggly and the DX Station, where Soda worked, and past Blue Plate Diner. All in all, I was about four miles away.

It was about 2:00 and I started to head back to my block. Pony must have been wondering where in Sam heck I've been for the past hour. I wondered if he was still out there smoking or went inside to watch TV. Did he go over to visit Soda at the DX? Or maybe he went to go track down Two-Bit. I don't care. I hoped he wasn't just sitting there waiting for me. I would feel bad.

I saw little lizards crawling round in the grass. The cute lil green and orange speckled ones that come out only in the summer and eat them mosquitoes. They were so nimble and fast that they would be on a tree branch at one second and across the lawn at the next. It was fascinating the way their little minds worked. They could just keep moving and hopping all over the place and not care about anything. I want to travel some day. Get out of this place for a while. Not for good, of course. I would never leave the boys. Just go somewhere for a little while to let go of everything. I would go somewhere to let go of the world, the people call themselves my parents, all the Socs, and this Oklahoma town in the middle of nowhere.

I've never been out of this state once in my life. I've never seen the ocean. It looks beautiful, the way I've seen it on T.V. It's calming when the tide is low. Someday, I want dive into it. Get soaked and lose myself in the saltwater that I never felt in my life. It looked loads different than a lake or a pond. And there was sand- 'nother thing I'd never seen in person. This place is near the smack dab middle o' the country where there was no access anyhow. Lucky Californians. Lucky Floridians. Heck, they even got them beaches in New York City.

Pony's been to the ocean. When Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were still alive, he, Soda and Darry, were gone out on a family trip to Rockport, Texas to see their cousins every summer for two weeks. He lucked out, cause Rockport is, you guessed it, right near the Gulf of Mexico. There's a place called Dallas in Texas. Maybe that's where Dally got his name. Dally's seen his fair share of places and even lived on the wild side of New York 'fore this, though I'm pretty sure he'd never been to Dallas.

I don't got a clue where I wanna go. Anywhere's fine I guess. I don't care. I'd even settle for the next state over. Maybe I want to see Hawaii. The oceans supposed to be beautiful there. Crystal clear and painted like a rainbow in the sunset. Pony taught me to appreciate that sunset. Says here ain't a prettier sight. Maybe I would go to Paris. See the Eiffel Tower and find out what the hell a crepe was for once in my life. Pony says Soda made it once and it was another name for "fancy-looking cavity on a plate". I could see the welcoming statue of Liberty in New York City or ride a camel in Morocco. I can almost hear the pyramids in Egypt calling me to them. Say, maybe I would take one of 'em cruises round the world and see everything at once.

A boy can only dream. It'll never happen. How'll I get my hands on that kind of cash? It was all crazy talk.

I was almost at my block. I live in a convenient place in my neighborhood. I live in the third house down, one of the worse looking ones. Small and abandoned looking with all them plants climbing up the sides like monkeys. Across the street and a house down, is Pony, Soda, and Darry's house. Their house is a mighty bit nicer than my place. Two-Bit's house is four away from mine. Steve's is on a bit farther, down the block, but we're not such great friends, so it don't make a difference anyway. Other than them, I don't really know who else lives in my neighborhood personally. I know on the right there's an ol' drunk and on the left, there's a schoolteacher who owns 'bout fifteen cats. There was also a house down the block that's had a FOR SALE sign for the longest time. That's about it.

I remembered the house with the FOR SALE sign 'cause I had just passed by it and the sign was gone. In its place, was a SOLD sign. That was strange. It wasn't at the time, exactly the type of house I would wanna get moved into, but if you have the financial crap most of us have here, you take what you can get. It's a two-story and made of bricks. There were high windows and you could see into the upstairs hallway, if it wasn't always dark in there. Today you could see that the lights were on, but a curtain was hiding the inside. Its lawn was neglected and dry. It ain't run down or poor lookin' or nothin'. Just not very attractive, like half the houses on this block. It looked like sort of like Steve's house. No offense to Steve.

I walked further down and I noticed two girls round my age sitting near the house with the SOLD sign. The shorterer of the two, though both of them were shorter than me by quite a bit, stood up. And then my pulse increase by 5000%. I recognized her. She started to walk over to me. Her long hair tied into a braid that fell over her shoulder today and it was straighter than it was the last time I saw her. Wonder how it worked that way for girls. My hair's always been the same, and I ain't even given the time of day any more to grease it up. I just let it hang in my eyes.

I kept walking, pretending like I didn't noticed her approaching me. The other girl sat watching. The girl's cool hand tapped me and I turned around.

a/n- guys i appreciate all the views, follows, and faves. The next ch is one of the many game changers so comment to let me know if yall like it so far :)


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

Johnny

She smiled.

"I know you. You're that boy from the alley last night."

God, she remembered me.

"Oh, yeah," I said, stupidly, "I remember you too."

"Do you live around here?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, and pointed to my house from there.

What do I say now?

"Oh, I just moved here with my sister and her best friend and her sister," she said, pointing to the ugly house I was commenting on before.

My mind took a few seconds to process that.

"I've lived here forever," I said truthfully.

"So you know the area pretty well, I would guess," the girl who had nice bright blue-green eyes that contrasted with her tanned skin

"I know Tulsa inside out," I said, and then looked down at my feet again.

There was an awkward silence. It looked like she expected me to say something.

"Uh, I could show ya round sometime, if ya want," I offered.

"Really? Thanks," she said, and she led me over to where the other girl was sitting and sat down too. I took as a hint and sat down.

"I'm Violet. My last name is Jacquelyn," she introduced herself, sticking out her hand like I was 'sposed to shake it, "But everybody calls me Jackie. You can call me either or."

I shook her hand.

"I'm Johnny Cade," I said.

"Nice to meet you, Johnny. I couldn't help but notice you in the alley," she told me, "I watched you bloody up that Soc's nose. It was far out."

"Thanks," I said smiling, except I didn't know what 'far out' means.

"But I cant understand why we cant all just mind our own business," she contradicted, "I mean, do we really need to be beating each other up because of financial status and the part of town we live in? It's barbaric."

She was sure right, but she used big word to explain it. I couldn't believe I met a greaser besides Pony, who shares this opinion. Well, I guessed she was a greaser.

The other girl, who was caught in the middle of this, cleared her throat.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this is my best friend, Dawn," Jackie said.

The girl named Dawn looked a little bit younger than Jackie. She had big hazel eyes and long wavy light blonde hair. She was taller, though, and they were both thin. This girl wore an orange shirt and jean shorts and blue converse. Only folks from these parts wear converse, boys and girls. It ain't a Soc shoe. So I reckoned they had to be greasers.

She was pretty, but Jackie was the one I did a double take at. It was like Pony and Soda standin' side by side. Maybe it was just because one is younger than the other.

Jackie looked a bit exotic. Her skin was tan, like mine, maybe darker. I know for a fact that I have Italian roots, but I don't know 'bout her. She had bright green-blue eyes and they were a tiny bit slanted.

Her hair was long, and went halfway down her back. It was different than it was yesterday. Yesterday it was like beach waves, more on the curly side. Today it was straighter. It was brown, but it was sun-streaked blonde all over the place, making it all together almost the color of honey. It looked so soft and fine. She had long dark eyelashes and a real slim figure.

Today, she ditched the long skirt and went for a loose white shirt made out of thin t-shirt material that exposed one tan shoulder, draping over the other.

(a/n- also known today as a crop top)

It had a design of a soaring eagle on it. She also wore a pair of shorts that looked like they were a pair of jeans that she had cut the legs off of so that they were shorts. They were also very torn. The shirt was almost longer than them.

I looked down at her feet, realizing that they were bare, but for a faded braided bracelet around her angle. She wore a whole bunch of bracelets: one with little red flowers decorating it, a whole bunch of braided ones like the ones on her ankle, and a leather one with something carved into it. I couldn't make it out then and there. In her hair was a flower (a daisy, I reckon?). I had no idea where she got it. And she wore a necklace with a star hanging off of it. The stars.

I was looking at the stars with Pony last night, though I'm pretty sure he had no idea what I'd been pointing out. Oh, Pony. Sometimes he was just in his own world

"Nice to meet ya, Dawn," I said politely.

"Right back at ya," she answered grinning, "Not often do we meet greasers who aren't a pack of assholes.

Pony would have started giggling uncomfortable at that. He didn't cuss much himself, and he would have found it, I dunno, know, "funny", as he would say, that a girl was doing it.

"What? You've met Tim Shepard?" I asked trying to be funny. What got into me

"No," she said seriously, "But I think my sister knows him."

"So, you're sister's from these parts?" I asked.

"No," she said, "We used to move around a lot for my dad's job. I think she met him while we were in New York. That's were she met all the no-good rotten greasers."

She said the last words clenching her teeth.

"Dawn, you cant generalize like that," Jackie said.

"But that jerk-"

"Not right now," Jackie told her.

"I'm sorry for bringin' that up," I apologized, "I didn't know she hated Tim so much."

"It's not your fault," Jackie said, "And it's not exactly Tim she hates."

"They're hoods, we're greasers," I clarified for them.

"No, she's talking about a greaser," Jackie assured me.

I thought. What could a greaser possibly've done to her? She didn't look old enough to even know the sort. Like Pony. If his brothers weren't involved with these types, he wouldn'ta been involved either.

So there I was sitting there, talking to these almost-strangers for God knows how long and then I remembered Pony.

"I should probably be heading back now," I told them, "I left Pony a while ago."

"Pony?" Dawn asked, "What kind of name is that?"

"Ponyboy, actually. His dad was a creative guy," I answered, using the explanation Pony himself used.

"Was he the one with you yesterday in the alley?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"The older one that fought off the Socs with Nat or the other one that almost choked to death twice?" Dawn questioned.

That was a nice way of putting it.

"The second one," I said uncomfortably, "Ill see y'all later-"

When I stood up to go back to Pony's house, Pony was actually walking towards me.

"Jesus Christ! You said you were going on-"

He stopped when the girls came into his view.

a/n- guys sorry for the long wait, ive been busy with school, but i hope you like it and let me know if you want more :)


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

Johnny P.O.V

"Oh hi," he said quietly, and gave me a look like what-are-you-doing-here.

All of a sudden he got real quiet. Pony was sometimes shy around new people, be it a girl or not.

He was holding a cigarette and he quickly put it out and stomped on it.

"You must be Pony," Jackie said.

Ponyboy nodded.

Jackie stuck out her hand and said, "Violet Jacquelyn. But you can call me Jackie."

Pony shook her hand like he didn't really want to. Ponyboy was shy with strangers.

"Ponyboy Curtis."

Seeing that Dawn said nothing, Jackie introduced her, "This is my best friend, Dawn Nathanson."

Dawn waved. Pony decided to stay with us.

Suddenly, Dawn spoke up, "I remember you. You were that one that was speaking to Nat with that guy."

"That guy is my brother, Darry," Pony said, "How do you know Nat? Is she your sister?'"

"No", Dawn said, "She's Jackie's.

I looked and Pony did too at Jackie and tried to visualize Nat and find a possible resemblance. I couldn't find one and I could tell Pony couldn't either. Different hair, different eyes, different skin tones, there wasn't a sign they were related.

"Y'all don't look alike," Pony said for the both of us.

"Nice observation, Sherlock," Dawn said sarcastically.

Pony laughed good-naturedly. Dawn didn't expect that.

"I'm adopted," Jackie admitted, "I don't know who my real parents are or what happened to them. It's a long story, but here I am."

I could tell that she wasn't comfortable talking 'bout this, so I didn't ask for the story. God knows what she's been through up 'til now. It's similar to what I go through at home. I wouldn't want to discuss it with someone I just met. It's like, how would it look if I said, "See this bruise? I got it yesterday for being a no-good useless son. But really, it's no big deal!" No big deal.

Apparently, this was foreign to Pony.

"You never met them?" he asked with wide eyes.

I now recalled that Jackie and Nat had different last names. Jackie shook her head. Dawn glared at him.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's alright," Jackie said, "If they cared, they would have at least tried to track me down. If they're no good, I'd rather be with the people who love me anyway."

That was the way Pony was always tryin' to get me to think. And here I was hearing it from Jackie who was in a similar situation. Did she really mean it, or just say that in order to seem like it was painless?

"I guess you got it pretty good with your parents?" Dawn asked with an angry arched eyebrow.

"They're dead," Pony said, "Car crash last year."

He could now say this with a straight face, no tears.

Dawn quickly felt guilty.

"I'm really sorry for bringing it up," she said, "That must be rough on you."

"It's okay," Pony told her, "You didn't know. All we seem to be doing is saying sorry to each other, so lets just drop the topic of parents."

Longest sentence Pony managed to say to the new strangers so far.

"Mine are alive," Dawn said simply and then looked down at her feet as if there were some sort of problem. And that all she said.

She was now the center of attention, so I said, "Mine too."

Pony and Jackie both stared at both of us until Pony asked Dawn if she had any brothers or sisters.

"I have an older sister, "Dawn responded, "Dakota."

"Oh, I have two older brothers," Pony said, "Darry and Sodapop."

"Sodapop?" she asked, "Is that seriously his name?"

"Yeah," Pony said, not seeing what the big deal was, "We call him Soda for short."

"I personally like the name. I wish I had a cool name like Ponyboy or Sodapop," Jackie said.

Dawn looked at her as if to say 'Are you crazy?"

"You do. I never met nobody named Violet before," I told her feeling my face get all hot.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Now I feel left out," I said, "The only one with out a cool name."

Everybody else laughed. I was cracking a joke. I, Johnny Cade, the quiet boy, made people laugh.

"Do you girls live here?" Pony asked, gesturing up at the house.

"Yeah," Jackie said, "Me and Nat and Dakota and Dawn."

Pony and I looked at each other thinking the same thing. Why'd they live together? Maybe 'cause there were no apartments in this area, and the house were too big for two. Maybe they couldn't afford two places. They obviously weren't willing to explain, so I didn't ask.

"Welcome the neighborhood," Pony said.

"Where do you live?" Jackie asked Pony.

"Down there," Pony said pointing to his house in the distance.

"Oh, the one with the big porch?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Do you guys have any other guys in your gang?" Dawn asked.

"Yep, we have Two-Bit, Dallas, and Steve," I said.

Dawn scrunched up her nose when I said Dallas.

"What?" Pony asked.

Jackie gave her a look; I don't know why.

"Oh, you mean, like Dallas, Texas?" she asked, though I could see that it was a cover-up.

"Yeah," said Pony, "Are there any other Greasettes?"

"Greasettes?" Dawn asked, giving him a weird look. She looked like she never heard that word in her life.

Jackie giggle, "Nat's been on that whole thing, lately. We don't exactly call ourselves that."

"But there are more of us," she continued, "There's Tiffany, Amy, and Alison. They're all sisters and Amy and Alison are twins."

"Oh, that's tuff," I said, "Maybe we could meet 'em sometime."

"That would be cool," Jackie said, "It would be fun to meet the rest of your guys, too. Right, Dawn?"

"What, oh yeah," Dawn said, though she was clearly distracted with a rabbit across the street. Reminds me of somebody I know.

"We should get going," Pony said.

I was kinda sad to leave. What if I couldn't get the guts to talk to 'em again?

"Oh, um, okay, then…" I said and Pony saw I was all upset.

"You guys wanna come over for a little while?" Pony asked out of the blue, while taking out a cigarette.

He offered to the girls. Dawn said no by squinting up her big eyes and making a face. Jackie refused like a normal person. I don't think Dawn was gettin' along good with Pony. I don't think she's gettin' along good with anybody right now.

"Sure," Jackie said, "But will your brothers mind?"

I saw Pony think for a minute.

"They're at work," he said, "But they don't mind anyway."

"Okay, then," Jackie said "Let me just let Nat or Dakota know that we're leaving. When I leave without telling Nat, she freaks."

Freaks? Okay. Pony could totally relate to that anyway. Like that time he went with Dallas and Soda to the rodeo. The rodeo is a place where tough guys in leather jackets go an' cuss an' hit each other while riding on horses. Let's say Darry was not exactly quiet 'bout the incident.

She walked towards her new house and motioned for us to come along. Soon as we were near the front doorway, which looked centuries old, Dawn hollered up the staircase, "NAT! WE'RE GONNA GO TO THE NEIGHBOR BOY'S HOUSE, OKAY?"

Dawn didn't seem too thrilled about it.

The house was ancient looking on the inside, but not bad. It was actually well built, I guess. The floor was wood and slightly dulled from years of scuffmarks. The ceiling was high and continued into the second floor, where you could see the upstairs hallway separated by a wooden railing. There was a huge (and I mean real massive) chandelier hanging down from the ceiling. It was the kind that you'd imagine would be in a haunted mansion, or whatever they call them things, with little gleaming glass diamond-shaped carvings and years of tarnish and cobwebs. Though it was dusty and dark, it was still magnificent- like the stars. The staircase was large and winding and also made out of wood. There was lotsa renovation needed, I could tell ya that. The walls were painted a color I couldn't identify 'cause of all them huge paintings and dust. There was real distinct detail in the paintings, and they looked almost like photos. It reminded me a little bit of what Pony can do once you put an oil pastel or pencil in his hand. I was guessing the walls were 'sposed to be white, but now it looked more like a dulled out gray color. It needed a good paint job.

Nat came down the stairs wearing a fitted purple t-shirt and a pair of too-big overalls decorated with multicolored smudges of paint. Her hair was up and tied in a paisley bandana, the kind Dally used to tie around his collar. I always thought of them as "cowboy scarves" cause in all the Westerns Pony and me saw, that's what they were wearin'. She was also carrying a big paintbrush dipped in pale purple paint and carried a dab of it on her cheek, too. Gosh, she was even pretty while she was doing' home improvement, too. She even looked happy while she was at it.

"One second!" she called.

When she got where we were standing, she greeted Pony, "Hi, Pony!"

"And I didn't catch your name?" she asked me.

"Johnny Cade," he said.

"I'm Natalie, but you can call me Nat," she told me.

Nat, I knew her name. It wasn't familiar, but her face sure was for some reason out there. She ain't been in the neighborhood too long, so i didn't know where I'd seen her.

"Where's Dakota?" Dawn asked impatiently.

"She's out grocery shopping," Nat answered, "What's up?"

Pony was now too shy to say anything, so Jackie did the talking, as usual.

"Pony just invited us over his house down the block. Can we go?"

"This is Darry's little brother, right?" Nat asked.

Jackie nodded.

"Alright, but be back by five. I need you to help me finish painting the guestroom," Nat said.

Pony and I shrugged at each other. Who paints a room purple? Girls, that's who. So you never know.

It's weird how they're actually doing it themselves though. Most girls would hire a contractor or get somebody to do their work for 'em, somehow, "greasettes" and Socs alike. Maybe they didn't know any guys to do it or couldn't afford it. That last one ain't a surprise in our neighborhood.

"Sure thing," Jackie said.

"You could come, too," Pony managed to get out, "I mean if you want to…"

I saw Dawn roll her eyes.

"That would be tuff, I mean, I would, but I'm actually kind of busy at the moment," Nat said.

Pony looked at the floor embarrassed and said, "Oh."

Nat saw the way he looked and felt something like guilt or something, I guess.

"But, I could stop by later if you want, after I get changed," she said.

Pony lit up again, "That would be great."

"Okay, see you then," Nat flashed a smile back at him.

I could see Pony's eyes all dreamy, as we left the house. Oh, Pony. It was always the older girls.

We all walked to Pony's house, Jackie startin' up a conversation as usual.

"Are we going to get to meet the other guys?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, "Darry, Soda, and Steve are at work, so we might see Two-Bit. He's always around."

"Yeah, I think Dally is busy today," Pony added.

Dawn cringed at the mention of Dally again. Pony and I glanced at each other.

"What is with you and Dally?" he finally exploded for the both of us.

"Nothing," she said, looking the other way, "I just know of a guy whose name was Dallas. No big deal."

I looked at Jackie. She rolled her eyes, like it was no big deal, but I could tell it was by the way Dawn made a big deal, not once, but twice.

I could tell at this point, Dawn don't like Pony very much.

We finally made our way to the house. Pony and Dawn refusing to talk to each other the whole way there. Pony pushed the door opened and entered. Empty. He led everyone to the living room and as they sat down, offered us something to drink.

"Y'all want anything?"

"No thanks, I'm good," Jackie said.

Dawn thought. She obviously wanted to put Pony through some trouble.

"I'll have some water," she told him.

"Sure thing," he said and I noticed he was real annoyed with her from the corner of his eye.

"Johnny, you want anything?" he asked me, leaving the room.

"Nah," I said, "Thanks."

When he went to go get Dawn's water, Dawn and Jackie looked around.

In Pony's living room, the biggest downstairs room, the sofa, matching recliner chair, coffee table, and TV were the main pieces of furniture. The coffee table was made out of a dark wood and it was somewhat worn out, but not like the staircase in the girls' house. The TV was actually kinda big. It almost always on and the remote was almost always lost. I swear, every time I came over, I heard Soda shout at least once, "Where's the goddamned remote!" Darry usually only watches the news and Pony prefers reading or drawing and only goes to the movies to watch tv.

There was also some paintings and a lamp. Oh yeah. And there were photos all over the place. All over. There was one of the whole gang together after a rumble, a picture of all of the Curtises in Texas with their cousins, and a whole bunch of 'em milestones of the boys when they were little. One of five-year-old Soda finally learning to ride a two-wheeler (and the band-aids adorning his knees), Darry catchin' his first fish, and Pony on his first camping trip. Then, in later pictures, Darry was graduating high school and playin' quarterback on his high school team. Soda and Steve going to junior prom with Sandy and Evie. Soda riding his horse. Pony winning a track competition. The girls seemed to be real interested in them pictures and asked me a buncha questions 'bout them as if this were my living room, which it practically was.

"Is this Soda?" Dawn asked pointing to the most recent picture, he and Steve posing in front of Steve's new car.

"Yeah," I said, sensing that they thought he was attractive. Lots of girls did.

"He's real cute," Dawn commented.

"And that's Steve," I said, indicatin' Steve.

"Is that Soda's car?" Jackie asked, pointing at the blue Camara, I think it was.

"No, it's Steve's," I said.

"And that's Darry, right?" Dawn asked pointing at the picture of him at his eighteenth birthday party two years ago.

"Yeah," I said.

"He's buff."

"I know."

"He played football?"

"Yep."

We sat back down in a few minutes and Dawn asked, "What's taking him so long with the water?"

Talk of the devil. Pony came back in with Dawn's water and the television remote.

"I found it," he informed us.

"Where?" Dawn asked, clearly uninterested.

"In the dish rack," Pony said.

"Well, that's a relief," Dawn said sarcastically, "Now we can all watch tv together."

Pony frowned, "Ha ha."

"Dawn!" Jackie said, "He invites us to his house and this is how you behave?"

Dawn shrugged, "Sorry."

"By the way, I like it," Jackie said to Pony, "The house. It's nice. A lot homier than ours."

"Thanks," said Pony, "We try our best. And you guys just moved in. I'm sure you'll have it ready in no time."

"Yeah your house is pretty well kept," Dawn said, "You know, for boys."

I was starting not to like Dawn at all.

"Stop it," Jackie said, "I don't know what's gotten into you today, but you better stop, or we're leaving."

Dawn shut up and took a sip of her water.

"I especially like the pictures," Jackie told Pony reassuringly, "We don't have any of those."

"Well, they've been around when mom and dad were around and they'll be around now," Pony said.

I didn't wanna ask why they had no pictures, 'cause I could tell that she ain't all that happy with the fact.

I didn't have family pictures sprawled across my living room either. What to take a photo of? There's ain't been no vacation spot to date (unless you call driving to Oklahoma City to buy a discount refrigerator filter a vacation spot), no milestones to show, and God forbid my parents do anything to brighten our house. I don't know what's up with Jackie, but it can't be good.

"Hey y'all!" we heard being shouted through the door. Pony and I knew that it was none other than Two-Bit.

He pranced vivaciously (Pony taught me that word) into our living room, with a guest.

"Hey, what's up?" he greeted us.

We were all busy staring at the girl on his arm. She was exactly the type you'd think Two-Bit'd go after. I was just shocked that he'd actually managed to recruit her. So this was the girl Two-Bit was talkin' about this morning. Ad everybody thinks I'm in my own world.

The girl was on the shorter side and curvy. She had curly blonde hair right past her shoulders that might or might not've been dyed. Her eyes were a bright blue and lined with lots of eye makeup. I can't get into detail with this 'cause I honestly don't know what it is to save my life. She was wearin' a short white jean miniskirt and a strapless blue top that showed her bust a little. To top it off, she was wearing heels. Not like the super high ones of course, but still heels. She wore some big earrings and matching bangles. Her look wasn't that trashy, like some of 'em greaser girls I seen, just not something to would wear to go over Pony's house. It was a bit... much.

"Oh, this is Tiffany," he said addressing our shock, "That girl i told y'all about."

"Tiffany?" both the girls asked their eyes wide.


End file.
